


Unfavored

by hatters_tea



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Childhood Friends, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Not Beta Read, Pokemon Journey, Rivals to Lovers, Slow Burn, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:14:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28801896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hatters_tea/pseuds/hatters_tea
Summary: People knew this would be the year that a challenger would end up defeating Leon, and ending his time as the Champion of Galar.With so many strong trainers participating in the challenge it wasn’t a question of if, but who.A trainer endorsed by the Chairman, the star of Spikemuth, the Champion’s younger brother, and twins endorsed by the Champion.
Relationships: Beet | Bede/Yuuri | Gloria, Hop/Yuuri | Gloria, Mary | Marnie/Masaru | Victor
Comments: 6
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

Beginning one’s Pokémon journey and going through the Gym Challenge is every kid’s dream, in the small town of Postwick that couldn't be more true. It was home to the current champion, Leon, and his younger brother Hop, who dreamed of doing exactly what his brother had done and become the champion. But instead of starting when he turned ten like his brother, Hop waited until he and his neighbors were sixteen. That was when their mother had agreed to let her two kids go out and explore the region, so Hop waited for Victor and Gloria. Leon brought home three Pokémon when Hop turned 16, so he and his friends could start their journey together.

It was these three teenagers from Postwick who were the first to be endorsed by Leon, and they’d be the last people he’d endorse as champion.

Gloria remembered the first time the three of them walked into the stadium at Motostoke to register for the gym challenge. The room was filled with about twenty other people who were here to do the same thing, go through the gym challenge. The league member who had been assigned to register gym challengers was shocked to see that the champion had not only endorsed someone for the first time but that he was seeing three at once all he said to them was that they must be something special. 

It felt like the two boys had their numbers picked out long before they'd all arrived, Hop registered as number 189 and Victor chose number 808. Which left the staff member looking at Gloria expectantly except unlike the boys she hadn't considered any number she would want to be attached to her during the gym challenge. "uh 3," she looked over at Victor, "03." Three had always been her go-to number it was their birth month, normally she would say her birthdate when asked for a number but the others didn't choose their birthdays as their number so it felt odd to be the only one to do that so instead, she did what Victor had done repeat the number with a zero sandwiched between. 

This really made her feel unprepared for the whole gym challenge and it hadn't even begun yet. While the others had their number pre-planned and ready to go Gloria had to stumble upon her own. "all alright, you three are all registered the opening ceremony will be held here tomorrow, before the ceremony all gym challengers will be taking their photo for their league card and all trainers have been booked a room at the Budew Drop Inn. Good luck on your challenge trainers."

"Let's go check in next door, race you there." Hop had begun running off by the time Victor fully heard the statement he took off after Hop to try and beat him there. Gloria turned from the desk to follow after them but stopped upon seeing a boy around her age standing there waiting to register. He had bleach blonde hair that was tightly curled which almost made him look like a Wooloo and he wore a magenta coat on with purple accents that matched his violet eyes. He just stared at Gloria, "excuse me, I still need to register," she nodded and stepped aside, "of course, I um like your jacket." He nods back at her, "thank you."

When she made it to the hotel the boys were in the lobby standing with Sonia and they were all looking at a statue of the fabled hero that was said to have saved the Galar region. She stood next to Victor to hear Sonia telling the legend of The Darkest Day. The statue begged for everyone's attention the tip of the sword the hero held nearly touched the ceiling, and at the center of the sword's hilt was a bright blue gem on the shield the hero held in his other hand was a red gemstone. The statue itself appeared to have been made of gold although it was probably just a metal coating but didn't make it look any less beautiful. This was the hero who saved Galar from a black storm that was said to have engulfed the entire sky, a real hero to be revered. So why was this statue in a hotel it felt out of place.

Was it just here to mock all the trainers that would end up coming through during their gym challenge, "You all are staying here at the hotel tonight though, shouldn't you be checking in?" Gloria turned immediately to walk to the desk while the boys said goodbye to Sonia. There was a group of four teens all with their hair dyed a bright magenta, they all wore matching grey jean jackets but their sleeves were torn off and each person had their own unique design on the back of their vest. One girl had a grey jean skirt and bright magenta tights, the other had black jean shorts on over her ripped pink tights. The guy who was talking to the hotel worker had black pants that were studded along the side seam of the pants, the other guy had grey distressed jeans that were tucked into his boots. She walked over to one of the girls, "excuse me," she turned around and smiled at me, "we came all this way to cheer on the gym challengers, you're in for a battle if you want to stop us." 

Gloria held her hands up and laughed, "no, no, no, I'm just here to check into the hotel." 

The other girl turns around, "while Team Yell's all about helpin' but that'd be helpin' one very special trainer in the challenge that is." 

"If you're checkin' into this hotel that means you're another trainer, we don't want you interferin' with our trainer," Gloria nods with a smile, "of course, consider me out of their way but can I check-in please." 

"I wasn't expecting checking in would be such a big fuss Gloria," Hop stood next to her with a bright smile on his face, Victor was smiling next to him and she knew he was about to make a joke at her lack of ability to check into a hotel. But the guy who had been speaking to the hotel worker turned around, "who are you?"

He stood up straight, "I'm Hop, one of this year's Gym Challengers, and I'm the one who's gonna be the next champion." Maybe it was his confidence, or maybe it was because of who Hop was but this idea would become popular outside of the gym challenge.

"what are you lot doin' 'ere?" A girl with black pigtails that were tied back with maroon ribbons that matched her bag the color of her bag, she also had on a leather jacket which was studded along the collar that matched her black boots which were studded along the front but she wore a pale pink dress under the jacket which contrasted with her turquoise green eyes. "Marnie!" She saw all the people who had been huddling at the desk turn to the girl, she looked over to see her brother staring at the girl who had appeared behind them. 

Based on her aesthetic she wouldn't have thought she'd be someone her brother would fancy but the dumbfounded look on his face said it all, at the very least he found this girl attractive. She had a Morpeko walking beside her as she came over to the group of teenagers. 

Gloria found the dumb face her brother was making more interesting than what the punks behind her had been saying, "I know you all are terribly curious 'bout the other challengers but you gotta show a bit of restraint."

She turned to Gloria and the boys and sighed, "sorry 'bout them, they're just a bunch of my fans, call themselves Team Yell and follow me around, cheerin' for me an' all." Turning to people behind them she spoke up again, "an' back home you lot."

Her gaze followed them as they walked out of the building, before turning back to the three trainers, "sorry they're just so caught up with wantin' to support me and they tend to get a bit, shirty other challengers sorry if they caused you any trouble." 

Hop looked like he was about to respond when Victor cut in, "of course it wasn't a problem at all. I mean you're popular, pretty, and a trainer, no wonder you already have fans of your own." There was a light dusting of pink on Marnie's face, "well it seems I could say that 'bout you." 

He smiles, "oh this is my sister, Gloria, and my friend Hop," she nods, "well it's nice to meet you all, I'll see you three at the opening ceremony tomorrow."

The next day when she came down to the lobby Hop was there practicing how he would throw his Pokeballs though it's something he's been doing his whole life, he's modeled it after the way Lee threw his Pokemon into battle. As though Gloria needed to have how unprepared she was thrown back in her face, this was another thing to add to her list of things she hadn't considered. How she'll do everything, the pre-battle stuff, how you throw your ball, what you say, people care about that and it had flown over her head.

"Morning," he stops and turns to smile at Gloria, "so this is it my legend begins and I'm gonna beat you to the stadium," she laughs, "can't we just walk there, it's early," he nods, "Victor already left, he walked with Marnie there." 

They began to head down the steps when Gloria spoke up, "he's got it bad for her," Hop looked over at her tilting his head to the side, "he obviously likes her," he nods but he hadn't picked up on what Gloria was referring to at all. It was a short walk to the stadium the hotel was on the same block as the stadium, which must make it a pain to stay there during the gym season when there are Dynamax battles going on all day. They headed to the counter to pick up our uniforms for the gym challenge before the two split up to the separate locker rooms to change into their uniforms. 

She was able to put her bag and clothes into a free locker. The uniform was mostly white, along the sides of the shirt and the shorts were a blue, grey and red stripe, on the left leg of the shorts was the number, 303 and on the right leg near the waistband of the shorts was a small logo for the gym challenge. The shirt had long sleeves with a dark grey cuff at the end of the sleeves and the shirt had a collar which was the same dark gray, over the shoulders were blue bars which helped to break up the sea of white fabric. On the center of the shirt was the gym challenge logo and at the top of the right sleeve was the logo for the Galar Pokemon league, on the center of the back of the shirt was her league number. The glove was white with blue accents, which aided in setting challengers apart because the gym leaders' gloves were gray with the accent color being that of the gym. During the official matches, gym challengers had to wear red and white sneakers with white knee-high socks.

She headed back out into the lobby to see all the other challengers wearing the same uniform with the only difference between all of them being the number they wore. Except for the guy from yesterday who was wearing his magenta jacket over the gym uniform he was probably the one person who was wearing anything not part of the uniform with it. 

The trainers were rushed throughout the process of taking photos for their league card, the backdrop was the usual pattern used by the league blue with red and white alternating stripes with diamonds on the lines. But that was it, if the trainers wanted to then make league cards they’d have to go to a Rotomi terminal, it was nice at least to have a photo for the card.

Being there for the opening ceremony was unlike seeing it on tv on one side of the pitch was where the gym leaders were waiting in the wings for their cue from chairmen Rose to go onto the field. The challengers were on the other side, being walked through like children, and the league staff was there to walk them through the whole process and make sure they didn’t do something wrong or something that would disrupt the entire ceremony. 

It was weird not being able to see what was going on they could only hear what was being said over the intercom but that was their only way of knowing what was going on. Once all of the gym leaders had been introduced the league staff motioned for the trainers to walk out onto the pitch, all they had to do was line up on the pitch opposite of the trainers then smile and wave as chairmen Rose officially began the gym challenge for this year.

What they don’t tell the challengers is how bright the lights shining down on the pitch are, all pointed at the people who walk out of the tunnel, or how the ceiling above the tunnel moves as fans in the stadium jump with anticipation. The fans are their own thing, all screaming, and shouting, begging for attention, many have posters that they want to be read by those on the pitch. It was all so much going on that it was sensory overload.

Gloria stopped just shy of the lines that marked the pitch so she could look around the field, other challengers walked past her to their position on the field, she was only brought out of her daze when the guy with the magenta jacket bumped into her so she continued to where they had to be for the ceremony.

She tuned out the rest of the ceremony, only moving when the people around her did because she hadn’t caught the fact it was over. Instead of going to the lobby which was flooded with people who were leaving the ceremony. The girls' locker room was a tizzy with people changing into their normal clothes and talking. 

Once she got changed she folded her gym uniform and stuffed it into her bag before heading out into the lobby to meet up with Hop and her brother. Hop was bouncing as he talked to Victor and when she came over he continued talking until Leon came over with chairmen Rose at his side. “So you’re the trainers our champion endorsed himself, it’s a delight to meet you!” 

Gloria nodded along but began to tune him out watching the people who were left but across the room was the guy in the magenta jacket glaring at the three trainers. Now that she knew she was being watched she couldn’t turn her attention away from him. Until her line of sight was cut off by the chairmen walking away, she turned back to Leon who was still there smiling at the three teenagers. 

“The chairmen certainly seemed to be in high spirits, now listen here you’ve all only just started on your path as trainers, if you want to win you need to do more than just train your Pokémon. You need to train yourselves too.” 

Hop pumped his fist, “let’s do it, let’s head to Turffield immediately.”

Leon laughed, “well at least eat something while you three are here in Motostoke before heading off.” 

“We can go to the cafe by the Pokéstop, and then we can go and make our league cards.” 

Gloria had the short walk to think over the league card. People would put a short bio about them on the back. What was there to say she had been endorsed alongside her twin brother and neighbor, the champion's brother. Maybe she could put that she was only able to take part in the gym challenge because of who her neighbor was. But Hop went first because he knew exactly what to write, this was something he’s thought about for years. He printed multiple and gave one to both Gloria and Victor while the rest were in his bag. 

She stood behind her brother looking over his shoulder as he wrote his entry, he started it off like Hop, ‘This Pokémon Trainer got endorsed to take part in the Gym Challenge by the reigning Champion’ but then it changed, ‘along with his twin sister Gloria, he hopes to go all the way through the challenge with his sister by his side, but if it came down to it he believes she would beat him every time. Nothing would make him more proud than to see him and his sister at the end of this.’

”Don’t print that.” He turned to her and laughed, “oh if you don’t like it then I’m definitely printing it.” 

“No, say something different and don’t talk about me.” He clicked the print button and waited for the machine to spit out the cards, it would print ten at a time so it took a minute for them to all be done. “I meant it,” stepping aside he leans on the side of the machine, “so, what are you gonna put?”

That was the million-dollar question, “I don’t know,” the screen of the machine was back on the start screen, Gloria grabbed the cards and looked at them, Victor was smiling at the camera with his arms crossed over his chest, it had the standard overlay at the bottom for challengers, it was a dark grey with a stripe of color that the trainer got to pick, ad Victor picked a vibrant red. 

She grabbed one of them and held the rest out to her brother, “Hey you didn’t ask if you take one!”

Gloria laughed as she put it in the pocket of her cardigan, “I’m your sister I don’t have to ask for permission,” he groans while taking the rest, “it’s polite to ask!” She stared at the terminal for a second before starting it up and inputting her information so she could make the card, it looked just like the others, her uniform number was in the bottom left corner of the card, on the top right corner was the logo of the Galar Pokémon League, and she was able to select the color of the stripe for the bottom of the card, she quickly selected the color green before clicking to move onto the next page.

This was the hard part, the bio. ‘Challenger Gloria was endorsed by the Champion Leon, and she hopes to make it through the whole challenge to prove it was a good decision to endorse her.’ She wanted to stop there, what else was there to say, before Victor had the chance to see what she had typed on the screen she confirmed it so the machine would begin printing the cards. 

Once they were all printed she walked over to where Hop was waiting for the twins, so they could go grab dinner before leaving to officially begin their journey.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the gym challengers begin their journey through Galar they meet other trainers, some they befriend, some who they come to rival, but someone they will ultimately have to defeat if they hope to earn the title of champion.

This was it, the beginning of their journey. The three trainers left Motostoke to make their way through route three and the Galar mine, which was the only way to get to Turffield from Motostoke. It would be a day's travel at most the real wait came once trainers arrived in Turffield, it was the gym with the largest queue because it was the first gym that challengers faced. Because they knew there was a long wait ahead of them Victor had his heart set on catching a Sizzlipede while they were in the area but Hop wanted to make it to the town as quickly as possible, and he was happy with his team of three, Wooloo, Grookey, and Rookidee. 

Gloria only had two Pokémon on her team her starter the Scorbunny she'd gotten from Leon, and the Magikarp she caught by Professor Magnolia's house. She hadn't had her heart set on what Pokemon she wanted to add to her team, she would know who she wanted once she saw them. So they split up because as much as Gloria wanted to travel with her brother, she didn't quite feel like sitting around for hours just watching Victor run around chasing after wild Pokémon which meant she would make her way to Turffield on her own. 

It was a quiet walk through the countryside with Pokemon running past her and Corvisquire flying through the air, it took her hours to get through the route because she stopped to see every Pokémon hoping that one would catch her attention but she was at the mouth of the mine with only her own two Pokémon. Luckily there was someone at the entrance who healed her team it didn't even take that long because she had a small team. Walking into the mine she was nearly run over by a Carkol.

The mine itself was beautiful, there were gems in the wall and stalagmites were forming from the ceiling with wooden beams running across the ceiling to help keep it from falling in as well as to hang lights from. There were supplies lined up against the wall, some carts filled with the gemstone they were collecting from the mine. Many mineworkers were walking through the area they couldn't be missed in their neon yellow safety vests. There were Diglett poking up through the ground and Rolycoly rolling across the mine that moved so fast they could knock over a passerby or someone who wasn't paying attention and Timburr was carrying supplies across the mine. It was amazing to see. All of this caused the challenger in his magenta coat to stand out in the mine, Gloria walked over to him and smiled, "it's so pretty here isn't it."

He turns around to her, "oh I guess it is, I was looking for wishing stars," he smiles to himself, "so, y _ou're_ the Gym Challenger endorsed by the Champion, aren't you?"

Stepping back she nods, "that’s me, Gloria, one of the trainers endorsed by the champion." He nods along but jerks back once she’s done, "one of?"

Gloria brushes her hair out of her face, "yeah eon endorsed his younger brother Hop, and-" He nods while laughing, "oh so the Champion endorsed his brother." She nods and was about to say something but she saw a Woobat fly behind him, he turned to see what she was staring at and laughed, "Woobats are pretty weak Pokémon," she grabbed her bag then walked around him, "well I'm gonna catch him, he's got potential."

"Wait," she stops and turns around to see he was holding a Duskball out for her to grab, "you'll have better luck catching him with this," she walks over and grabs it, "thanks." That was all she needed to go running after the Woobat to catch it, while she ran after the Pokémon Bede watched because he couldn't tell what about this Pokémon caught her attention, she said it had potential but as far as he could tell, it was an ordinary Woobat. 

Gloria was able to catch it in one go, once it clicked she turned to see Bede watching her, she smiled at him and held the ball up for him to see, "caught him." He laughed as she walked over, "I saw." She placed the Pokéball into the pocket of her cardigan, "thanks for the Duskball.” She paused, waiting for him to fill in with his name.

He shook his head, "Bede, and I wasn't going to use it so why not give it to you," she nods, "I appreciate it, do you want to head to Turffield together?"

Bede looks down at his watch, then back up to her to see she's smiling at him awaiting an answer but he still needed to get wishing stars for the Chairmen, "I have some work I still need to do."

"Of course," she continues to smile at him, "maybe we can catch up in Turffield?" Bede nods, "yeah if I see you we can definitely catch up."

Gloria digs through her pocket and grabs her league card, flipping it over she scribbled down her phone number under the printed bio, "here." She held it out for him to take, "text me when you get to Turffield so we can meet up."

He held the card in his hand, "thanks." Looking up he saw she was walking away further into the mine, she hadn't written that much on the card and her photo was very simple she stood still in front of the backdrop smiling at the camera. He hadn’t expected her to give him her card like it was nothing. She had come up to talk to him and he hadn’t done anything that should have her wanting to talk to him. Yet here she was giving him her card and number. Bede hadn’t made any friends so it was weird to see her do this all so casually, he saved her number on his Rotom phone and tucked her card away in his bag so he wouldn't lose it.

He made a mental note to himself that the next time he was at a Pokéstop he would have to make his league card so that he could give her one in return.

Gloria was greeted with the gently rolling hills, all covered in tall grass on the other side of the mine. Many of the town inhabitants were farmers or Pokémon breeders in the small farming town. The cottage-like houses reminded her of home, Pokémon were walking with their owners throughout the town. The stores in the town were quant, the florist had a wide selection of flowers which were on display in beautiful wood carts outside the store.

There was a family-owned grocery store, and pharmacy on the same strip, with a restaurant at the end of the area, she couldn’t tell what they sold but they seemed to be a popular stop in the city.

The stadium was the main attraction of the town the closer to it the more stores that popped up, vendors selling berries, and items for Pokémon, the closest building to the stadium was the Pokéstop. It was identical to the Pokéstops that are built across the region, the red shingled roof, at the center hanging above the door was an illuminated sign in the design on a Pokésball, there were lights hanging on each side of the door with plants hanging beneath them, the pink flowering plants hung over the edges of the container. There was a small station in the area near the stadium but it was only used for travel between Hulbury and Turffield because many people from both towns worked in the Galar mines. Even though there was a mine in each city the workers would often have to do business at the adjacent mine.

The small town seemed to have been interrupted by the gym challenge and all the people it brought. There were tents pitched in the clearing all surely home to trainers and their Pokémon for the challenge. This area seemed to be where wild Pokémon would roam during the offseason, up in the hills outside of the clearing were many Pokémon hiding from people. And the town the kids seemed excited about the gym challenge, their home was where many trainers came through, and they were surrounded by trainers from all across Galar. It was the stadium with the most fights going on so of course they would get excited because they would be able to watch these fights in person. Gloria had stopped in the middle of the pathway to watch them and hadn’t even heard the yelling behind her until a Wooloo had knocked her over.

She couldn’t help but laugh, this made this little town feel more like home. “Are you okay, you took that tackle head-on?” Gloria nodded as she stood up once she was stable on her feet she brushed her dress off, “yes, I’m from Postwick, so it’s not the first time I’ve been run over by a rogue Wooloo.” 

Now she had been run over by Hop’s Wooloo most of the time when he felt like messing with her but that wasn’t something to say to someone who she’d never meet before. Looking up she saw it was Milo, the gym leader of the Turffield Gym. He fit into the town so well, when he wasn't working the Turffield Gym he was a Wooloo farmer the rest of the year, over his gym uniform he wore a green handkerchief tied around his neck and he wore a wide-brimmed sun hat, at the base of the hat was a green triangular design. “you must be one of the gym challengers right?”

She nods, “I thought so, you said you were from Postwick, you wouldn’t happen to be one of the Champion-endorsed Gym Challengers?”

”Oh yeah, I’m one of those challengers,” it was weird to be referred to as the challenger endorsed by the champion, surely other challengers weren’t referred to by who endorsed them. “Well, I’ve been itching to see just how good the challengers Leon endorsed are, guess I’ll have to find out at the stadium.” 

He picked up his Wooloo and waved to Gloria as he walked away to the stadium. Was this going to be her fate during this whole challenge, not being Gloria, but one of the challengers endorsed by the champion?

She walked into the town to find Hop racing towards her, “Hey Gloria, this place is jam-packed with challengers so it’ll be ages before our turn comes up.” She nods but before she could respond Hop cut in, “oh! Sonia was looking for you, she wanted to ask you something,” he points over at the hill overlooking the geoglyph, “she’s up on that hill.”

”Okay, how do we know when it’s our turn?” He crosses his arms and smiles, “you have to go to the stadium and register, they go in the order that trainers register so you may want to go do that soon.”

”Can’t you register for me while I go meet up with Sonia?”

He pauses, “I dunno if they’ll let me but I’ll certainly try mate, text you with what they say,” before she could thank him he took off in the direction of the stadium. 

She walked up the path to towards the hill she’d been told Sonia was at, there were some monoliths along the hill and tourists were looking at them. Aside from the stadium, this was the town’s main attraction it makes sense it’d be a popular spot during the gym challenge.

On the top of the hill was a flat clearing that gave a clear view of the geoglyph, it was an inscription on the side of the hill the design was a huge piece that seemed to depict a Dynamaxed Pokémon with the sun in the distance. Sonia was by the rope fence with Yamper at her side, Gloria stood beside her and looked at the hill ahead of them, “Hop told me you wanted to see me.”

She turned to face Gloria, “oh yes, I wanted to hear what you thought of the geolyph.”

Gloria leans on the rope and it goes down under her weight but she doesn’t lean back, “it looks likes a Dynamaxed Pokémon.”

Sonia looks back at the hill, “Seems likely. It certainly looks like a gigantic Pokémon, I suppose people three thousand years ago could’ve just imagined this but it looks too similar to Dynamaxing. It can’t just be a coincidence.”

”Well, I’m glad I’m not the person who has to look into that,” Gloria says with a snicker, Sonia sighs and hangs her head, “guess I’m the lucky lady who gets to look into that.” 

Gloria looks over at Sonia to see she’s smiling to herself, “thanks for giving me your thoughts, here I have something for you.” She grabs a card from her pocket and holds it out for Gloria to take. It was Milo’s league card. “I got it from Nessa and I have no purpose for it, it just collects dust in my room. I figured it could help you more than me.” She grabs it from Sonia and looks at it. The photo was one of him taken during a match in the stadium, he was waving at the fans in the stands, the top right corner had the logo of the gym instead of the league logo, the bottom wasn’t gray like the challengers' cards. Instead, it was the green zig-zag pattern of the gym and right above it, he had signed the card. “Thank you, Sonia.”

”You’ve got this Gloria and you have some time before you can face Milo, maybe you can catch an addition to your team.” 

She nods and puts the card in her pocket, “Gloria!” Turning she saw Hop running up the hill waving his arm at her, she smiled and waved back at him. As he came to a halt throwing the dirt up with the force he came running with. “Guess who’s the greatest rival ever.” 

His excitement at everything never ceased to put a smile on Gloria’s face. “Is it you?” His smile somehow grew larger at her answer, “it sure is, I got you registered.” 

Behind her she could hear Sonia laughing at the two, “we should probably go set up camp for the night and we’re gonna want room for Victor or he’ll never let us live it down.”

They found a spot by the river that was large enough for the three tents it was the least occupied camping area. Going camping used to be something that Gloria’s family did a lot, it was something her dad had loved to do so mom would agree to go camping every now and then. Camping out in the wild area, seeing nothing but uninterrupted land for Pokémon to roam was amazing. He was a ranger for the wild area so he could easily get the family into the area without ever encountering any wild Pokémon. 

Gloria still knew everything dad had taught her about camping her tent was up way before his, so while he was continuing to set up insisting he could do it on his own Gloria got supplies to make a fire. Hop couldn’t ignore the way Gloria watched him as he set up his tent, she had collected wood and rocks for the fire all while her tent was not only set up. It looked like a photo out of a catalog.

”Just, no,” looking over Hop saw her shaking her head at the way he was assembling the poles for the tent, she walked over and stood next to him, “can you just let me do it?” 

“No,” he sighed, “I need to be able to do this when I’m not traveling with you.” 

“Okay, well,” she reaches over him and points at the remaining pole, “they interlock, they won’t undo so after you’ve connected a piece, move on.” Gloria grabbed the pile of unconnected poles on the ground and began to assemble it. 

“This pole may look weak but, it’ll hold up I promise,” he tried to keep up with her but she was going fast, and having a steady tent mattered more than beating her in the race to have this pole assembled. “This was always my job, assembling the poles, of course, Vic and I had to help layout the tarp and the body of the tent as well.” 

Looking up he could see her holding a finished pole in her hand, she doesn’t say anything while I finish with mine she had walked around the tent a few times and once he was done she began talking, “your tent is easy, it has a place to push the poles through.” grabbing her pole she goes to a corner and begins feeding it through the tent. “There are holes at each corner, just put the pole into that hole that’s how it stands up.” 

Walking to the opposite corner he begins to push it through but the pole was bending as he did it as though the sections were going to break apart. “I think I messed up,” she was walking to the other side to slot the pole when she looked at him, “you’re doing it right. I promise I’d tell you if you did something wrong. I’m not my dad, I wouldn’t make you sleep in the rain.” 

He stared at her not sure of how to respond but her laughter filled the silence. “Okay, you loop it through the hole on your side, I’ll get the opposite side.”

Hop quickly pushed the rest of the pole through so Gloria could finish on her side but once he had crouched down to loop it through. He couldn’t tell what hole Gloria was referring to there were at least holes through the tent materiel that he could see.

”That one,” he jumped and saw she was right next to him pointing at one of the holes, “this one-“ she points at the lowest one “-is where the stake goes.” 

Hop nods and pushes it into place but he was fumbling with Gloria watching him, there was nothing about setting up a tent that should fluster him but she was right next to him watching his every move, he couldn’t help the nerves that flooded his system. It didn’t make sense to him why she stressed him out so much, they’d been friends for the longest time and he never used to think twice about the things he did around her. But now whenever he was near her all he could focus on was doing everything correct like she was secretly testing him. 

There wasn’t any reason for his feelings, but he couldn’t shake them off and it didn’t seem like the anxious feeling was going away anytime soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's my first time taking a college math class, and I had a test today, but instead of studying last night, I wrote this.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With every badge gained, a trainer grows stronger, but being the best doesn't mean the road ahead has to be faced alone.

The next day was when things really began, it was the first day for gym battles. The town was bustling with people who were there to watch and to compete. Gloria had to wait till the late afternoon to compete of course the general public didn't know who competed when so if they wanted to watch a certain match they were practically watching all day. That took some of the stress away knowing that those who were watching the matches may be there to watch a specific person and not the person currently on the pitch. 

After Hop got through the gym he returned to where the three had set up camp, Victor had joined Gloria and Hop late the night before, he had to until the gym opened the next day to register so he wasn’t going to have his go at the gym battle until tomorrow. As Hop ran towards the twins he had a huge smile on his face as he rushed toward the twins, “Look at this, you guys!” 

He was holding the metal charm that was the gym badge, it was a gold-toned with leaf design debossed into the metal and filled in with a vibrant grass green color, the lower half of the badge was rounded off while the other half was jagged and looked as though it had broken off of something. “the Grass Gym Badge, I got it in one go.” 

“That’s awesome Hop,” Gloria had her go in a few hours, of course the stress was mounting, “you know I reckon it’s 'cause I’m about the greatest when it comes to wrangling Wooloo. I’ve had plenty of practice after all.” 

She must not have been hiding her nerves well because he switched gears, “But I know you can win this, after all, you are my rival.” 

Of course, being considered someone’s rival is a big deal when it comes to Pokémon battling but to have one of her closest friends stop referring to her like that and only as a rival. It felt like a downgrade from being friends. ”Yeah, thanks, Hop.” 

She was at the stadium half an hour early to give herself time to change into her gym uniform, the audience could be heard cheering on the current match through the walls of the locker room. This was the easiest gym battle but she couldn’t shake the unease building in her stomach. She had three Pokémon and one of them was a Magikarp not only was that at a type disadvantage to a grass type gym, but it was also one of the weakest Pokémon in the region.

There were so many eyes on her she was on the challengers endorsed by the champion so she couldn’t walk into her first gym battle with a Magikarp. Gloria placed the Net Ball back into her bag and walked back into the lobby with her Woobat and Scorbunny. She sat in the lobby until she was allowed to go onto the gym mission.

Hop had very unsubtly told the twins what the mission was, wrangling 20 Wooloo through the course to the end. The area seemed to stretch out for about 2 kilometers it was a flat stretch of grass with the area being further locked off with fences, the only thing that marked the end of each section was the stacks of rolled hay with the stack growing in height as the sections went further. It felt like a patch of Wooloo grazing land that was taken and placed under the gym. The walls were the same shade of green as grass which made the large open area feel small and cramped as though the trainers and Wooloo were being swallowed by green. 

The task could be difficult for those not used to Wooloo but they were common in Postwick and if there was anything Gloria knew about Wooloo, it was that ran from anything making a ruckus, of course there were better technics for wrangling them. But this was her favorite way plus it was something she and Victor would do a lot as kids. Maybe it was also a way to get some satisfaction from all the times she’d been run over by her neighbor’s Wooloo. Once the referee finished telling her the task she ran after the Wooloo and began yelling while throwing her arms around in the air, it worked just as well as she remembered it.

She got through the first section easily with this method but the second fenced-in area had a Yamper running around to try and scare the Wooloo. Gloria whistled to get the Yamper's attention, the Pokemon turned around to face her then came running over to her while the Wooloo were in the middle of the area not minding her and the Yamper. It stopped by her feet and looked up to her waiting for her to explain she called it over, she reached behind her back with a smile on her face as she watched the Pokemon staring up at her. Gloria moved her hand back in front of her for Yamper to see that she mimed holding a ball, “here boy,” its tall was wagging so fast it was practically a yellow blur as it looked at Gloria’s hand, she pretended to throw a ball towards the end goal for this section. The Yamper took off in the direction she had 'thrown' the ball and as it tumbled across the field at full speed it scared the Wooloo into running in the same direction that the Yamper was. She was at the tail end of the group running after the herd of Pokemon, it became apparent as the Wooloo crashed through the haystack with the Yamper following suit that she was now going to have to deal with two Yamper in this last section.

She made her way towards one of the Yampers and as it was about to run away towards the terrified Wooloo the dogs were terrorizing she grabbed the Pokémon off the ground and held him under her arms, “that’s enough for today,” she walked to where the other Yamper was and stood in front of its path so it couldn’t run, “Sit!” the Pokémon looked up at her tilting its head with its left ear flopping over its head as it watched her. “Sit, don’t make me carry you like your friend here.” 

Maybe the Yamper understood her or maybe it was the motion she was making as she talked, but the Yamper sat now staring up at her, “good boy, now stay.”

She continued to watch over her shoulder as she walked away to make sure it stayed put and it seemed content to stay there. With the Yamper still in her arms, she ran after the Wooloo to scare them towards the final post. Once the last one had rolled through the gap in the fencing she set the Yamper down and then she crouched down in front of it. Although the dog didn't seem to mind being held she scratched the top of its head ruffling the patch of white fur as she spoke to it, “Sorry little guy.” Gloria grabbed the bag she had been given to hold her Pokéballs and any items she may need for the gym battle and grabbed a pecha berry. Holding the berry out for the Yamper to take the dog quickly grabbed it out of her hand, while he ate the berry she grabbed one more Pecha berry from her bag and walked over to the Yamper who was still patiently sitting where she’d asked him to, “thank you too little guy.” She held the berry in her hand for him to take and once he grabbed it from her hand she scratched its head before turning back to go finish the mission. 

Bede had just made it into Turffield that morning when he went to go register he saw the list of trainers ahead of him and next to each name was their uniform number, he scanned it for the number that was on the card he’d been given earlier, 303.

Gloria Kenley, she was registered to go at 15:00, so despite the fact that his match wasn’t until the next day he went back to the stadium at that time to watch her. The stadium was filled with people all excited for the gym challenge, many were there to see any battle but some had signs they held with numbers on them to show who they came to see. None of the numbers were ones he recognized, he only knew one competitor for the day and that number wasn't anywhere to be seen in the sea of people, but it didn’t matter who everyone else was here for. All that mattered was the match he came to watch these other trainers could wait.

While challengers were completing the gym mission a stream of them was shown on the screens in the stadium so the audience had a reason to stay before the battle began. Bede prepared himself to not pay attention but Gloria’s technique of running and screaming had the audience laughing so he paid close attention to the screen to watch how else she may embarrass herself. The next section where she pretended to play fetch with the Yamper was genius and nothing like how she handled the first section, instead of making a fool of herself she used the Yamper to her advantage. Which was similar to how she carried out the last section of the challenge she knew the Yamper would follow basic commands so she could focus solely on the Wooloo.

Bede was ready to turn his attention to the pitch when he began to hear people in the stands awing at the screen. Turning back he saw that Gloria was taking time off her clock to give the two Yampers berries, there was no logical reason to do this. Each trainer only had so much time to get through the mission and battle so why would she eat into that just to give some Yampers berries, they weren’t her own Pokémon and they were used to following commands that was their job. 

He didn’t have long to question her actions as she came onto the pitch where Milo was for her, after she had completed the third section of the mission he had walked onto the pitch but of course he was delayed by her berry trick. As she stood opposite of him he smiled, “My Gym’s the first one people face, so we get a lot of challengers. That’s why I try to keep the Gym mission challenging, but that didn’t stop you from completing it."

Gloria laughed to herself and the mics were able to pick it up along with her response, “I told you I grew up around Wooloo.”

”Well, it sure seems like you understand Pokémon real well, which means this is gonna be a doozy of a battle.” 

At that, the two trainers walked in opposite directions towards the edge of the second circle on the pitch to begin the match. Bede had his eyes trained on Gloria as she grabbed a Dusk ball and threw the Pokeball as though she was throwing a ball in a game of catch. Nothing fancy, no messing around, it was straight the point just to get to the ball to where it needed to be.

The Woobat she had caught in the mines flew out of the Pokéball twirling around and on the other side Milo released his Gossifleur into the pitch. Gloria wasn’t smiling like she was when they first met, her gaze was locked onto the Pokémon in front of her. “Gossifleur use round.”

Gloria winced, “Woobat, use gust.” While the wind had hit the opposing Gossifleur it narrowly missed, looking back at the Pokémon he saw how its eyes were closed, it used sound to navigate and that’s why Gloria reacted the way she did to round.

Milo smiled to himself, “Gossifleur use magic leaf.” 

“Use gust to deflect,” the Woobat used the air around it to blow the leaves to the edge of the pitch, “now use air cutter on Gossifleur.” 

The sharp blasts of wind that hit the opposing Pokémon practically made it take flight but it was still rearing to go, “Gossifleur, use round again.”

”Woobat, go for confusion,” what was she doing, she should just go for another flying-type move and knock out Gossifleur, her Pokémon did as it was told and the opposing Pokémon stumbled around after the blast but it was still standing. What was Gloria thinking?

The Gossifleur was thrown back as it used round and that long with confusion sent the Pokémon to the ground, Milo grabbed his Pokéball, recalling the Pokémon.

”We’re not going to be done in that easy! We’re tough as weeds,” Gloria smiled to herself as he released his Eldegross then she reached for her Pokéball recalling Woobat. As she did this the crowd around him had begun to chant for her to Dynamax her Woobat but instead of going for a Dynamax she grabbed her other Pokéball and released Scorbunny onto the field.

Milo smiled, “Come on then, it’s Dynamax time, you’re about to be uprooted.” He recalled Eldegross to Dynamax it as Gloria did the same for her Scorbunny, the Pokémon was hopping in its larger form which sent the seats of the stadium shaking, “Scorbunny, max flare.” 

The flame shot out by the Pokémon did serious damage to opposing Eldegross but it stayed standing, “This’ll really leave you in shock and awe, Eldegross use max overgrowth.”

Despite the giant size of the plants being thrown as projectiles towards Scrobunny they did minimal damage with much of it having burnt upon impact on the Pokémon, the smile on Gloria’s face said it all she knew she had this battle, “Scorbunny, let’s finish the job, max flare.” 

This sent the crowd nuts as they began yelling as the Pokémon shot a flame again at the cotton Pokémon and this time it shrunk down to its regular size after being hit, and Milo recalled it into its Pokéball. 

Gloria had won that battle like it was nothing, Bede stood up and began to leave the crowded stadium so he could meet her outside in the waiting area. The room remained empty as many people were going to watch all the matches for the day, so aside from other challengers who were waiting to compete, he was the only person in the lobby. 

Gloria came out in her pink dress with her gray cardigan was tied around her waist and her green beret was nowhere to be seen. Bede walked over to her and once she saw him a smile erupted onto her face, “Hey, have you signed up for the gym battle yet?”

He nods, “yes, I actually caught your battle,” she looked down, “oh, really.”

”You did surprisingly well,” she looked back up, a glare in her eyes, “why was that surprising?” 

“I’d never seen you battle before so I didn’t know what to expect,” Gloria nodded but didn’t say anything, “do you want to, grab lunch, my treat.” She looked at him for a moment before smiling, “I would kill for some food.”

The restaurant was fairly empty when the two walked in so they were able to take a seat quickly. It was a simple place, it seemed to be run by a family with only a few other workers. Wooden beams ran across the ceiling and from them hung the lights that lit the place. There were long tables that took up half the stretch of the room lining the walls, while the tables in the middle of the room were round with the chairs making it a maze to get to and from tables. The walls were a white stucco with the only thing decorating them being photos of the family who ran it, they made it clear that it was a restaurant that had been in the family for generations with the age of the photos being evident from their coloring.

They sat in silence as they read the menu and while it may have been a short menu everything on it sounded heavenly. Gloria was reading every description of every meal when Bede spoke up. 

“You used an interesting technique in your battle today.” She looked up and saw his violet eyes were staring at her waiting for a response. Setting the menu down she leaned her elbows on the table resting her head in her hands, “really, what strategies do you use then?”

”Well, I focus on psychic types because the easiest way to defeat someone is by getting into their head.” Gloria nods, “I don’t think I could handle more than one psychic Pokémon. You must be a good trainer if you can handle them.” 

He smiled at the compliment, “thank you, I could always teach you if you want more psychic types on your team.” Gloria nodded and dropped her arms flat onto the table, “I appreciate it.” 

Looking back down at the menu Bede sighed, “what are you thinking of getting?” 

“Oh well, the mini shepherds' pie sounds pretty good,” he scanned for the item and read the description, it was a meat pie with onions, sweetcorn, carrots and peas all seasoned with a family spice, topped with mash that’s baked with the meat. “yeah, I think I’ll have to follow your lead and get that.”

Looking up from the menu he sees Gloria on her Rotom phone, she peeks over the phone and laughs, “sorry, my brother was just asking where I went.”

Bede nods along, “you didn’t tell me you had a brother.” Gloria sets her phone down, “oh well, I have a twin brother, Victor, he’s competing in the gym challenge as well.”

He nodded along as she spoke, “has he already competed at this gym?” She shakes her head smiling, “no, he competes tomorrow, I was thinking of staying around to watch his match, maybe I’ll stay to watch you since you made the effort of going to mine.” 

Bede couldn’t help the smile that broke out onto his face, “I’d like that, as long as your brother doesn’t mind waiting on you to see my match.” Gloria laughs to herself and looks around the restaurant, “we’re not exactly traveling together, I mean, we’re going to the same place on the same path, but we’re not waiting on each other.” 

“Oh well then we can head to Hulbury together after my match,” her head snaps back to look at him, “I’d love that. It’s nicer to travel when someone is with you.”

That’s what kept Gloria in Turffield another night, Hop had begun to make his way to Hulbury so that he could be on route before nightfall. At this point in the competition she didn’t need to rush, she completed the gym on her first try so she didn’t have to worry about missing the cut off to get the next badge. An extra day spent watching her brother and Bede wasn’t going to set her behind. 

The next day she took down her tent set-up, packing it up into her bag so she could make her way to the gym to watch all the matches in the day. Gloria was ready to go before Victor had even woken up and he knew she was staying to watch his match so she didn’t bother leaving a note as she left their campsite. 

She had made it into the main town square when a little Eevee came running towards her, Gloria stopped thinking she was in the Pokémon’s way but instead it began to rub against her leg. Smiling to herself she grabbed her berry bag and picked out a Cheri, “here you go.” While the Eevee took the berry out of her hand Gloria sighed, she had been giving her berries away to Pokémon that weren’t hers so now she was going to have to buy more berries from the shop in town before she left. 

The Pokémon had continued to rub its head against her leg, Gloria kneeled close to the Pokémon and began to pet its head while looking for a collar, there wasn’t one but this was way too close to a populated area for a wild Pokémon to go to. She grabbed the Pokémon and stood back up with it in her arms as she made her way to the Pokéstop.

Gloria pushed her shoulder against the door to get it open before walking in, the staff worker watched her as she walked in, “does your Eevee need aid?”

Gloria set the Pokémon on the counter and sighed, “no, this isn’t my Pokémon, I found it in town, and it seems she’s lost her collar, I don’t know who her owner is.”

The staff member grabbed a Great Ball from under the desk and held it in front of the Eevee’s head, and it ran its head into the button so it could be called into it. The Pokéball only shook once before clicking, “she was a wild Pokémon, would you like to keep her? If not I can send her over to the Pokémon nursery.” 

Gloria felt bad about having wasted the worker’s time and she knew it would be more of a hassle for her to go to a nursery, she sighed, “no I’ll take her.” The staff member held out the ball for Gloria to grab, she took it and smiled at the worker, “thank you for the help. Sorry about that.” The worker waved her hand through the air, “no worries it happens all the time during the challenge season. Wild Pokémon will run up to trainers, acting very friendly to get food, you’re not the first person to think they belonged to someone.”

It felt better knowing she wasn’t an absolute waste of time, “thank you,” she walked out of the Pokéstop with the great ball in hand, “I guess you’re joining the team.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bede and Gloria set off on their journey to Hulbury.

Bede didn't know why he had so carelessly suggested that the two of them travel to Hulbury together, he had barely known Gloria and she had people she could easily travel with. She didn't need Bede to be there with her on the short travel between the cities. That didn't keep her from accepting his suggestion in fact she almost immediately accepted the idea of them traveling together. 

His unplanned question is what brought him into this situation, now he was having to travel with a girl he had barely bet. 

It was mid-afternoon when the pair of trainers left Turffield. It was going to take them two days to walk to the next town since they had left so late into the day. If they’d left early in the day they’d probably only have to camp out once before they’d reached their destination.

”I’ll hand it to you, your all psychic type technique is pretty amazing, I mean you didn’t have the advantage. Like at all. But you beat him.”

He nodded along as she spoke, she could have easily made fun of him going in without a type advantage to get back at his comment about her skill, but instead she complimented him. Which meant he was going to have to work on being nice to her.

They were barely out of the town when a reporter and cameraman came up to the two. “Excuse me, you’re the trainer endorsed by the chairmen?” She didn’t pause nearly long enough to give him time to respond, “would you mind answering a few questions for us.” 

“Of course not, ask away,” Gloria grabbed her phone and walked to the edge of the pathway to once he agreed to the interview, “okay. First of all, why do you think the chairmen chose to endorse you?”

He laughed to himself, “I know he endorsed me because he knew I was the only trainer who will defeat Leon and become champion.”

Gloria mumbled something he couldn’t hear, “next, do you think you’ll be able to defeat the trainer endorsed by the champion himself.” He looked over to Gloria then back at the reporter, “are you referring to a specific trainer, the champion has endorsed multiple trainers this season.”

”His younger brother, Hop, many think he will be the one to defeat Leon.” Bede smiled, he didn’t feel bad saying he could defeat someone he’d never met and had never fought. If he had to say that about someone he was traveling with, that would be a different story. 

”Of course, I have no doubt that I can defeat him.” The reporter nodded along, “and lastly, who poses the greatest challenge to you?”

He couldn’t keep himself from glancing back at Gloria, she was now looking up from her phone awaiting his answer, “Gloria Kenley. She holds herself well in battle and that shows great promise.” He looked back, to see her mouth had fallen open, she was staring at him, her eyes wide. 

“Gloria, Kenley, okay thank you.” Bede waved at the reporter before turning his attention to Gloria, “don’t look so shocked.”

"Really you seemed surprised about how well I did yesterday, 'sides you heard the reporter, the public has already picked the favorite to win." 

Bede nodded, "well, I've yet to see him fight and from what I've seen, you're the only trainer who holds a candle to me." She laughs and puts her phone into her pocket, "okay Mr. confident, we should get going."

Usually, the public would pick the favorite to win after the third gym challenge because any trainer who makes it past that point is more likely to make it to the semifinals. But this year there was already talk for who the overall winner would be. There were still many trainers who had yet to even compete in the first gym. The champion's younger brother must be something else if people at this point think he will win.

They walked in silence, with only the sound of Pokemon and the wind rustling the leaves on the trees around them. As the sun was beginning to set Gloria kept walking down the path as though there wasn't a lack of light to guide their path, "I think we should stop to set up camp." She turned around to Bede, who had stopped walking, "we will, there's a great camping spot up ahead." He sped up his walking to catch up with her, "and how exactly do you know this?" She smiled to herself, "my dad gave me a list of great camping spots, and trust me, this one is absolutely beautiful."

Bede felt like his legs were becoming heavier with every step he took for the next thirty minutes as she continued to lead him further into the wilderness between the two cities. Gloria even with a bag that was bigger than her was walking without a problem. Maybe she had trained for months leading up to the season by camping out in the wild area, it would explain a lot about her. That was how Bede kept himself from thinking about how badly he wanted to just lie on the ground and call it a night. Thinking about how she was prepared for the challenge across the region 

She stopped at a patch of conifer trees then walked towards the low hanging branches and lifted them up so she could walk under them "where are you going?"

"Our campsite." He pushed the branches of the tree up as walked after her, there was a slight path in the dirt that had been worn away and the grass had stopped growing due to the amount of traffic. The path was pretty steep and Bede nearly tumbled down the path a couple of times, the thick trees had blocked the only source of light and it was hard to keep his footing straight when he had no idea what was in front of him. 

The path began to flatten out and Gloria had stopped where the clearing began and waited for him to catch up with her, "I present you, our rest stop." She continued into the clearing with Bede following right after her, the grass in the area was up to their shins, and at the center was an oblong-shaped pond with the conifer trees that surrounded the area keeping it locked away from anyone passing by. There was a large clearing of flattened grass beside the pond, in a little nook that had the tree line on one side and the pond on the other with only a narrow pathway connecting it the rest of the area. 

"See, I told you, absolutely beautiful," she walked through the grass and towards the area behind the pond, he followed after her and his feet seemed to disappear into the grass with every step he took, if they weren't attached to his body he wouldn't be surprised if he lost them in the grass. "I guess it is nice, though I don't think we had to tack on the extra walk for this, we're only camping for the night."

Gloria had set her bag down and begun to pull out her camping equipment, he sat down near the pond to watch the wild Pokemon that ran through the area, behind him he could hear Gloria setting up her tent. He knew he should be doing that as well but he couldn’t will himself to stand up, let alone assemble a tent. Before he knew it she was sitting down next to him. Looking back over his shoulder he saw that she had her tent assembled, he didn't even know that a tent could be assembled so fast. 

Gloria was watching the Stufful chase after each other that was what they did for a while until Gloria broke the silence, "you never mentioned you were endorsed by Chairmen Rose, you must really be some trainer to get an endorsement from him." 

"Oh, well the Chairmen actually gave me my Hatenna, she was my first Pokemon. I've worked hard since that day to become a trainer the Chairmen will be proud of." Gloria nodded along smiling over at him, "with the rate you're going, I'm sure you've already impressed him." He could feel her eyes on him so he turned to see the genuine smile on her face. "Thanks.”

The moonlight didn't provide that much light, but the light that it did have practically made Gloria glow. It gave her warm brown hair an almost silver appearance and lit up the left side of her face while the other half was left in the shadows, and the only thing that could be seen clearly were her hazel eyes which stared back at him. Bede couldn't keep himself from staring at her and he only stopped when she began to laugh to herself, he turned his head back towards the clearing in front of them. 

"I thought you were the one complaining about getting rest, and you haven't even set up your tent." He sighed, "I'm way too tired to even think about setting up my tent." She hummed to herself, "well, I've got a two-person tent, you can mooch off my work if you'd like." Bede turned to face her, and she was looking straight ahead like he was moments ago. She didn't seem to be joking, and maybe it was because of how tired he was, but he agreed.

Bede had woken up before Gloria, she had her back to him, and all he could see was her hair since she was lying inside her sleeping bag. He pulled his magenta jacket back on before making his way out of the tent. The area looked beautiful with the sun beginning to rise, there were very few Pokémon scurrying through the area many were probably still sleeping at this early hour. While he waited for Gloria to wake up he set up a fire so he could make the two some oatmeal for breakfast before they had to set off again. 

Nothing was better than waking up to see that someone had made breakfast, once Gloria woke up she began to pack up their camping equipment while Bede finished making the two breakfast, after about only an hour they were ready to hit the road again to finish their journey to Hulbury.

It was easier to find their way back to the main path even though the sun was low in the sky. Gloria took the lead through the trees, she was shorter than Bede with the top of her head barely reaching his chin. Almost everyone in her life was taller than her so it wasn’t that large of a feet to outgrow the girl, while Victor wasn't that much taller than her he still had some centimeters on Gloria. Hop on the other hand towered over Gloria and Victor. Maybe it was a good thing she didn't go camping with him. While Bede was getting his hair caught in low hanging branches, they might've taken out Hop's eye.

His curly hair had been a trap for any loose leaves there were enough stuck in his hair to constitute it a tree, but he didn’t seem to notice and Gloria wasn’t going to bother mentioning it as they continued down route five. From what she remembered seeing on the map last night, if they continued east on the main path they’d reach the western entrance of the city early enough to make it to the gym to register before it closed for the day so they could register. 

They would probably have to wait about two or three days before they could have a go at the gym. That is if every challenger so far has completed it, despite being the second gym Nessa didn’t hold back nearly as much as Milo. Many challengers are unable to get past her and if they do then Kabu is the next roadblock which keeps many from reaching the cut off for the trainers to earn the first three badges. 

Gloria could see the sight of a brick bridge, they were about halfway to Hulbury. The bridge was part of the train system between Hulbury and Turffield. The bridge was the only thing in the area of real note as the trees began to taper off and there was nothing buy a lone building in the distance. This alone wasn’t an odd sight, but there was a wide stretch of fenced-in land beside the building.

She ran ahead towards the building, “come check it out, Bede.” Gloria ran to the edge of the fencing leaning against the waist-high wooden fencing to watch the Pokémon run around the trimmed grass, a few minutes later Bede stood to her right and leaned on the fence to peer into the Pokémon pen, “oh, it’s a daycare.”

Despite being the slow one he didn’t seem happy about Gloria stopping them just so she could look at Pokémon, after all it wasn’t an uncommon sight the pair were walking through a wild area filled with the creatures. He was about to step away when Gloria began to speak again, “look!”

Bede followed her gaze to see she was staring at a Pichu, she bounced back and forth on the balls of her feet as she watched the baby Pichu walk through the grass. He was about to say something about how they should get going but once he turned to face her the words were caught in his throat. Her eyes seemed to grow in size and reflect the light just to show the joy she was feeling, it was the most he had seen her smile since they’d met. "Isn't it just the cutest thing you've ever seen?" He didn't look back at Pichu instead watching the smile grow across her face, "yeah."

She let out a gasp and grabbed onto Bede's arm, "look at the Munchlax." 

If Bede wasn't leaning on the fence he just might have fallen over, all he could hear was the pounding of his heart in his ears which made it impossible to pay attention as Gloria continued to talk like it was nothing but that didn’t keep him from smiling to himself as she continued to talk about the Munchlax.

Gloria saw a Ralts and turned to Bede to point out the psychic Pokémon but stopped when she saw he was looking at her and not at the expansive Pokémon field. She couldn’t stop the rush of warmth to her face it felt as though there wasn’t anything she could do to fight back the blush that was growing across her face. Bede quickly turned to the field and cleared his throat. Gloria shook her head and stepped away from Bede so she was no longer holding onto him.

A woman with blonde hair tied up in a bun stepped out of the building and as she began to walk into the fenced-in area she noticed the two trainers and waved at them, “you two are welcome to come inside if you’d like.” Gloria looked over at Bede, who was still staring off into the pen, “would you like to go inside?”

He turned to her and nodded, “yeah, I think we could use a quick break anyway.” 

The building itself was plain, the wood used to build hadn’t been painted in fact the wood had been covered in gloss to keep it’s natural beauty from fading over time. All that could be seen upon walking in was a small foyer where trainers could leave or pick up their Pokémon with the owner of the nursery. The desk was the only pop of color inside the building the counter was painted white with the sides being a pale green probably chosen because it matched the grass outside. On both sides of the counter there were wooden doors that way labeled employees only, this was as far as trainers could go inside the small building. It felt like welcoming environment but there wasn't anyone at the desk currently to speak to.

"Maybe we should get going." Gloria turned back to Bede and then around the at the empty building, “yeah-“

The door right to the counter opened and a worker in a yellow flannel and grey overalls smiled at the two as she walked towards them. “Good morning how can I help you?”

Gloria smiled, “oh we were just stopping by,” The worker watched as Gloria moved her hands around while speaking but her attention wasn’t on Gloria instead it was on the Dynamax band around her wrist.

”You’re a trainer.” Gloria nods but before she could continue speaking the worker walked behind the counter. “That’s good, are you looking for a new Pokémon?”

Gloria looked over at Bede who was staring at the worker confused, she looked back at the woman and smiled, “I’m not interested in leaving any of my Pokémon here. Thank you but-“

”No, I’m asking cause I recently hatched a Toxel, but the little guy definitely has more of a fighting spirit. He’d be much happier fighting than helping me raise Pokémon.” 

She couldn’t stop herself from smiling, “you have a Toxel!” Bede almost laughed at her reaction, Gloria probably would’ve reacted this way no matter what Pokémon this woman said she had. “Yeah, I think you and ‘im will get along. Both got a lot of energy.” 

The woman reached under the desk and pulled out a luxury ball that she set it down on the counter all while smiling at Gloria, “he’s all yours if you want ‘im.”

She nodded eagerly, “of course, are you sure you don’t want him though?” The worker laughs, “oh I’m sure kid.” Gloria nodded and quickly grabbed the pokéball off of the counter so she could hold it in her hands. 

“Why don’t you let ‘im out.” Not needing to be told twice Gloria clicked the button on the pokéball and released the Toxel with a bright glow. The purple pokémon was sitting on the floor, with its arms in front of it while it appeared to be angry at Gloria who coed at it. “Aren’t you just the cutest thing.” She rubbed at the top of its head, the pokémon leaned into her hand no longer seeming to be upset at her even though it continued to look upset. 

Gloria scooped him off of the ground and held the Toxel in her arms with it’s arms hanging over her own so it could keep itself from falling from her grip. “See, I knew you two would get along well.” 

“Gloria,” she turned to Bede who was now standing by the door, “we should probably get going if we want to make it Hulbury before the gym closes.”

She nods, “right,” turning back to the worker she smiles, “thank you so much!” The worker waves as the two trainers walk outside of the building, and Bede wanted to laugh, “a Toxel.”

Gloria looks down at the baby Pokémon then over to Bede, “oh come on, who could say no to a face like this.”

He smiled seeing how Gloria had quickly become fond of the Toxel, “are you going to carry him all the way to Hulbury?”

It wasn’t even a question to her, “of course, now come on, I thought you were the one complaining that we needed to go.” He kept himself from laughing as she began to walk without him, leaving him to catch up to her. 

He had a lot he needed to learn about Gloria, he may have seen her in battle once, but that didn’t clear up her strategy one bit. She had Pokémon of all different types, making them harder for her train, many trainers will learn about one type and specialize in them and yet here Gloria was taking in any Pokémon of any type. 

For anyone else, that’d mean they had a weakness, because while they be able to attack a wide variety of Pokémon they had to train so many Pokémon which all had their specific needs. Gloria, she seemed to know what she was doing and that’s the only thing that can maybe keep her one step ahead of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this chapter took a while, I live down in Texas so there’s been a lot going on.   
> Hopefully this chapter was worth the wait


End file.
